1 in 5 credit reports have errors: Is yours one of them?

A February 2013 study by the Federal Trade Commission found that one in five credit reports contains errors. Over the past decade, savvy Americans have learned that their credit score is the most important aspect of getting credit. They also know that the credit score is derived from the credit report. To get the best interest rates for a mortgage, car loan, or credit card, you’ll need a high credit score. So it behooves every consumer to keep an eye on their credit report and credit score.

There are many free places to get your credit report, but usually you have to pay for your credit score. A new entry into the credit sites is WisePiggy.com, where you can get your TransUnion Vantage score and your “Credit Report Card” – all for free. (WisePiggy.com is operated by the same company that owns ConsumerismCommentary.com.)

To create an account, you’ll need to fill in the usual personal information, including a Social Security number, which is retained only to do a soft pull of your credit report. Once that’s done, you’ll be taken to a dashboard (found under the My Credit tab), where you can see your current Vantage score – which ranges from 300 to 850 — and Report Card. Your score will be refreshed every 30 days.

Credit Report Card

The Report Card gives you a letter grade, from A+ through F, for each of the components that go into your credit score. These are on-time payments, open credit usage, average age of credit lines, new applications or hard inquiries, and mix of types of credit.

The Report Card contains all of your open accounts, including credit cards, car loans, student loans, personal and home loans. Want more details on about your score? The Score Card provides them.

My Savings Finder

Under the Savings Finder tab, you can find ways to save money by getting a credit card with a better interest rate, a lower mortgage rate, and auto insurance comparison rates. The site also shows the most competitive savings account rates available.

My Loans

The next tab is My Loans, where you can see all of your loans with details on each one. For example, under credit cards, you’ll get the name of the card issuer, your credit limit, current balance, and estimated monthly payment.

The Debt Reduction tab offers two calculators: a mortgage amortization calculator and a debt repayment calculator.

Finally, the Credit Tutorial provides helpful articles about credit scoring, credit cards, debt reduction, mortgages and ways to improve your credit that will help you save money. These useful articles are also available on the homepage for those who do not have an account. You can also compare credit cards, mortgages, car insurance and savings accounts without opening an account.

This is an advertisement sponsored by WisePiggy. Consumerism Commentary is owned by same parent company as WisePiggy.

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